These resources will give you overviews of your topic, define terms, and list useful books and journals. Start with these and return to them when you encounter concepts or terms later in your research that you don’t understand.
Key Resources
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World War II: the definitive encyclopedia and document collection
1 online resource (5 volumes) : illustrations, maps, library_page_html
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Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (ODNB)
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography is an illustrated/fulltext reference tool providing 55,000 specially-written signed biographies of the men and women who shaped all aspects of the British past from the earliest times to the end of the year 2000. It is the product of research instituted at the University of Oxford and funded by the British Academy and by Oxford University Press. It is the achievement of 10,000 contributors and advisers staff in Oxford. The Oxford DNB aims to provide full, accurate, concise, and readable articles on noteworthy people in all walks of life. No living person is included: the Dictionary's articles are confined to people who died before 31 December 2000.
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Oxford Reference
Multi-part database of the online versions of Oxford University Press texts. Each topical division contains the searchable version of the latest edition of published dictionaries and encyclopedias. Additionally, information about Oxford University Press is provided. Online texts will be updated after new editions of the print monographs are published.Covers the humanities and social sciences.
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The Cambridge History of the Second World War. Volume 1, Fighting the War
The military events of the Second World War have been the subject of historical debate from 1945 to the present. It mattered greatly who won, and fighting was the essential determinant of victory or defeat. In Volume 1 of The Cambridge History of the Second World War a team of twenty-five leading historians offer a comprehensive and authoritative new account of the war's military and strategic history. Part I examines the military cultures and strategic objectives of the eight major powers involved. Part II surveys the course of the war in its key theatres across the world, and assesses why one side or the other prevailed there. Part III considers, in a comparative way, key aspects of military activity, including planning, intelligence, and organisation of troops and matérial, as well as guerrilla fighting and treatment of prisoners of war.
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The Cambridge History of the Second World War. Volume 2, Politics and Ideology
War is often described as an extension of politics by violent means. With contributions from twenty-five eminent historians, Volume 2 of The Cambridge History of the Second World War examines the relationship between ideology and politics in the war's origins, dynamics and consequences. Part I examines the ideologies of the combatants and shows how the war can be understood as a struggle of words, ideas and values with the rival powers expressing divergent claims to justice and controlling news from the front in order to sustain moral and influence international opinion. Part II looks at politics from the perspective of pre-war and wartime diplomacy as well as examining the way in which neutrals were treated and behaved. The volume concludes by assessing the impact of states, politics and ideology on the fate of individuals as occupied and liberated peoples, collaborators and resistors, and as British and French colonial subjects.
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The Cambridge history of the Second World War. Volume 3, Total war : economy, society and culture
The conflict that ended in 1945 is often described as a 'total war', unprecedented in both scale and character. Volume 3 of The Cambridge History of the Second World War adopts a transnational approach to offer a comprehensive and global analysis of the war as an economic, social and cultural event. Across twenty-eight chapters and four key parts, the volume addresses complex themes such as the political economy of industrial war, the social practices of war, the moral economy of war and peace and the repercussions of catastrophic destruction. A team of nearly thirty leading historians together show how entire nations mobilized their economies and populations in the face of unimaginable violence, and how they dealt with the subsequent losses that followed. The volume concludes by considering the lasting impact of the conflict and the memory of war across different cultures of commemoration.
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A Dictionary of British History (3 ed.)
"Based on the very successful Oxford Companion to British History, A Dictionary of British History, is an invaluable compact reference work on all aspects of the history of Britain from 55 BC to the present day. Written by over 100 distinguished specialist contributors, the variety of entries provides a wealth of essential information touching all aspects of British history: political, economic, social, military, people, events, and institutions."
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A Companion to Early Twentieth-Century Britain
This title is part of the Wiley/Blackwell Reference Online e-book collection available through the Wiley Online Library.
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A Dictionary of World History (3 ed.)
"This up-to-date dictionary contains clear, concise, and detailed entries covering 4,000 years of world history. It includes biographical entries on hundreds of key figures, from Alexander the Great to Bill Clinton, Elizabeth I to Nelson Mandela, Moses to Tony Blair. There are subject entries on religious and political movements, international organizations, and key battles and places."
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Who's Who in the Twentieth Century
"From Albert Einstein to the Marx Brothers, this authoritative reference book provides biographies of men and women from different countries and cultures who have contributed to the thought as well as the action of the twentieth century."
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